In case you are facing with low system performance on Windows 10 or you are noticing high temperature or cooler speed – at first you need to check your Task Manager. This tool allows you to indicate the process which causes the high load (CPU, graphics, disk usage, memory etc.). Quite often such problems can be caused by Microsoft Compatibility Telemetry process (it is also known as CompatTelRunner.exe).

So, the first important thing is that in case this process loads your system high in a short time period – there is nothing wrong with that. The other thing is when Microsoft Compatibility Telemetry doesn’t reduce the load over time, and that prevents you from comfortable work with other applications. In this short article we’ll take a closer look on what is Microsoft Compatibility Telemetry (CompatTelRunner.exe) and everything you need to know about it.

What’s the Purposes of Microsoft Compatibility Telemetry Process?

Microsoft Compatibility Telemetry (CompatTelRunner.exe) is a service that is responsible for gathering telemetry and diagnostics data from your computer; it’s being installed with update KB2952664. So, why do you need it? Microsoft tells us that it helps to make the operating system better, to analyze and correct issues and errors. The service won’t touch your files, passwords or other objects that are stored on your PC. Microsoft Compatibility Telemetry (CompatTelRunner.exe) is a part of the system processes and enabled by default.

Note. CompatTelRunner.exe is used not only in Windows 10, but also in Windows 8 and Windows 7 (in case you’ve installed the updates KB 3075249 and KB 3080149), but if you are facing with the process on Windows XP – most likely, it is a virus or malware.

What to Do When Microsoft Compatibility Telemetry (CompatTelRunner.exe) Causes High Disk Usage?

A lot of users are widely discussing the problems with the lack of privacy because of what Microsoft telemetry collects. We won’t continue this discussion – today we will concentrate all attention on a practical side.

The other important thing is that CompatTelRunner.exe is not perfect (as many of other Microsoft products) and because of that some issues may appear during functioning (for example – high disk usage or high CPU load). This can happen due to different factors, but user have to solve the problem with Microsoft Compatibility Telemetry (CompatTelRunner.exe) to continue comfortable work on Windows machine.

Important! In order to implement the instructions below you will need an account with administrator privileges.

The first important thing is that you can’t delete CompatTelRunner.exe (at least it won’t be easy!), because the service is deeply built into the system and that can lead to unexpected results. However, user can stop this service and prevent it from re-starting:

Before continuing, try to reboot your PC or end task in Task manager. If this won’t help – you need to disable telemetry in Windows 10;

So, at first go to Settings and change the needed privacy options. To do this press Win + I and go to Privacy –> General. Here you need to turn off all options. They are various in different Windows versions, but generally – you need to check them off as on the screenshot below:

Now switch to Feedback & Diagnostics section and make sure that the parameter Diagnostic and usage data is set to Basic.